Alpine takes action in the matter before the difficulties that Fernando Alonso is having in his return to Formula 1

Fernando Alonso, at the Spanish GP

Fernando Alonso, at the Spanish GP
Fernando Alonso, at the Spanish GP
XPB / James Moy Photography Ltd.

Fernando Alonso not quite comfortable with the Alpine A521 and it shows in their performance. The difficulties found to manage optimal tire performance, which were further exposed in the Spanish GP, have a difficult solution as long as he cannot train anymore, but according to MontmelóFrom the team they have promised that they will make the necessary changes to minimize these pitfalls.

The Alpine team was one of the teams that misread the Spanish GP and what the optimal strategy was.  Although Montmeló is, historically, a two-stop race, the French like Red Bull tried to do only one and when they wanted to react it was too late.  The result was disastrous: in the last laps Esteban Ocon fell to the final 9th ​​place (it could have been a 7th, at least) and Fernando Alonso sank to 17th, although in his case he made two stops at the end and not one like the Frenchman .

The Achilles heel of Fernando Alonso on his return to Formula 1

Technically, the A521 is a mid-zone car. It has been seen in the four races held that, without being the truck it looked like on the first two datesIt is also not the plane that many fans would want. As soon as they can polish those mismatches with the Pirelli, the results can improve substantially, although it is on Alonso’s side where the imbalance is most noticeable. While Esteban Ocon has understood well the driving philosophy of the A521, for the Spaniard it is being more difficult. In part this is due, as the Spaniard explained, to the car’s own driving philosophy.

To help you, Alpine technicians have promised that the next new things they put into your car will go to accommodate (not so much to improve) driving the car.

“This car has a different approach to assistance from power steering. I am used to a different type of steering assist and this is something that I will eventually have in the car on my side of the garage and I think it is going to be one more step forward in my adaptation, ” Alonso explained to ‘Mundo Deportivo’ in Montmeló.

Fernando Alonso gets out of his car at the Spanish GP

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These types of difficulties can help you in the big problem that you are presenting on your return to competition: the tires. The Pirelli’s range of performance is very narrow and Alonso still does not have it at hand.

The solution is not easy, given that without training beyond those I do in each Grand Prix it is difficult to readjust. With the focus on 2022, Alonso wants to alleviate these difficulties as far as he can without this implying totally modifying a car that is really transitory before the big regulatory change.

“There are more sensations that I have to get used to. I feel like the car has different characteristics in the way it behaves. Because of the regulation change in 2022 it makes no sense to change the philosophy of the car, I am the one who has to drive differently. It is what I will try to do during the year. I will take steps and I hope it will be soon, “he promised.

New parts will not be in Monaco, since the idiosyncrasy of the circuit of the Principality does not make it the ideal place. It aims to be later, from the Azerbaijan GP, when Alonso’s car have those small improvements (or ‘worse’, depending on how they work) to help him.

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